William Mouw dominates in wire-to-wire 8-shot win at Western Junior

It was a week never much in doubt, as William Mouw was in control from the start.

Mouw, of Chino, Calif., followed up an opening-round 5-under 65 with three straight 67s to finish out to an eight-shot victory Thursday at the 100th Western Junior Championship. This was a wire-to-wire win, as Mouw, 16, led by one after 18 holes, doubled that through 36 and ran away from everyone on a 36-hole final day at Park Ridge (Ill.) Country Club.

For the three days, it was a 14-under 266 – tying the low total in this event set by Hunter Mahan in 1999. It may have been a runaway, but Mouw still worked for it.

“It was one of the toughest golf days I’ve played, but my legs are doing well,” Mouw said, via WesternJunior.com. “I drank 20 bottles of water and a couple of Gatorades and think I ate about six bananas.”

Mouw, a 2019 Pepperdine commit, was ranked 44th by Golfweek overall and fourth in his class heading into the Western Junior. Mouw had turned in a series of high performances of late, finishing T-4 or better in his last three AJGA starts. But victory had eluded him in this hot stretch until now.

Mouw’s resume now includes a Western Junior victory, as well as a triumph in the Boys 13-14 division at the 2015 IMG Junior Worlds.

Karl Vilips, a 2020 Stanford commit and the top-ranked player in that class, placed second at 6 under. Only 12 players broke par on the week. Defending champion Sean Maruyama, son of Shigeki, finished solo 25th at 3 over.